The 26th brought along the third of the November Ngamo birthdays as sisters Nala and Narnia celebrated their 7th birthday. It was a cold day as the weather had made a change from the previous few days’ sunshine and the rains of November made another appearance. The morning started off quite gloomy for the pride as they curled up in clusters in Etosha, the birthday girls huddling up closely with Ashanti as the rain fell over them.

Nala, Narnia & Ashanti

As the morning unfolded a large herd of impala came into sight of the lions but the rain was perhaps getting the better of some of the older members of the pride as they remained sleeping in a warm huddle and unaware that they had company. AS4 however took a keen interest in the impala and she sat up tall watching them graze in the distance. After a few moments she took what may be her first few steps of a solo stalk and she crept slowly forwards from the rest of the group, not travelling very far and pausing beside a nearby tree to take a better look. It wasn’t long before Ashanti noticed AS4’s distraction and she too crept slowly forwards in a perfect stalking position showing her captivated daughter exactly how it’s done. The impala began to move away and AS4 and Ashanti returned to rest in the rain with the rest of their pride.

The next day was just as cold and rainy and the pride were again found close together and sleeping their way through the dismal weather in Kruger. By the evening though the rains had begun to ease off and the pride took a late afternoon stroll travelling towards Etosha. As the whole pride made their way along the boundary AT1 spotted a small number of impala and without hesitation she separated herself from the rest of the pride to follow them deeper into Etosha. After a few moments of watching AT1 impressively move in and out of sight through the long grass the sound of the impala alarm call was heard indicating that AT1 had unfortunately been spotted. AT1 soon emerged from the grass unphased by the episode and she returned to Milo’s side as they walked along the boundary together following the rest of the group.

The 28th brought slightly better weather and the pride spent their day lazing leisurely in The Valley. By early evening they began to stir and soon a lengthy head-rubbing and grooming session commenced as the sun began to set.

Milo & Narnia

Once everyone had had their fair share of licks, including Milo who, to our research team’s delight, welcomed a greeting from low-ranking Narnia, they rose one by one with Kenge leading the procession and they wandered in line through The Valley towards TreeTops. As a misty full moon rose over Ngamo our research team left, leaving the pride to patrol their territory alone in the moonlight.